We all know engineering is useful, functional, even ingenious. But the engineering photography competition we hold each year provides us a chance to wander outside its merely utilitarian aspects into dimensions…

There’s definitely room for improvement in night-vision goggle technology – and graphene could make a huge contribution.
UK Ministry of Defence/FlickrSeptember 7, 2014

Graphene – an atom-thick sheet of carbon – has been touted as a new wonder material: it is stronger than steel and conducts electricity better than copper. In the journal Nature Nanotechnology today, my…

Samsung has had a mixed relationship with wearable technology to date but an announcement this week may put it ahead of the crowd. The South Korean firm made an early bid on the market with smartwatches…

Every year thousands of people are fitted with artificial heart valves to replace their own malfunctioning valve. Many of these patients, however, have to remain on drugs that stop blood clotting on these…

Graphene is an exciting and lucrative new industry – so why isn’t the Australian government funding local commercial development?
Hinkle GroupJanuary 27, 2014

Australian industries have reached a turning point. With old industries on the way out, the Australian manufacturing sector’s biggest challenge is to move from a low-cost mass production model to one that…

The proposal of an ultra-thin condom made from graphene and latex brings design of the contraceptive into the 21st century. We have yet to see a prototype, but the developers at the University of Manchester…

This beautiful symmetrical structure also holds the key to make better smartphones.
argonneSeptember 13, 2013

Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms, is being touted as the material that could change how electronics are made. But it’s difficult to make graphene in forms needed for electronics. Now, researchers…

Assuming you are geeky enough to open up any mobile device on the market – a phone, tablet or laptop - the most glaringly obvious component of the device is the battery: it generally consumes up to (if…

Imagine a material that is just one atom thick, 300 times stronger than steel, harder than diamond, a fantastic conductor of heat and electricity and super-flexible to boot. This might sound like the stuff…

It inspired the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. It’s the best thermal conductor we know of. It’s a crystal stiffer than diamond, but able to stretch by 20% of its length, and can carry a current density one…